Clipse Don’t Know How to Put This, But…

The first single off Clipse’s Til the Casket Drops is here, and guess what: It’s great! Kanye might have made better use of Ron Burgundy’s catchphrase on the “Back Like That” remix, but that’s not nearly enough to spoil “Kinda Like a Big Deal” — this is the most carefree the duo has sounded since “When the Last Time,” with plenty of fast-life rhymes and only two cocaine-trafficking references (well, only two that we understood). Pusha’s verse is all anti-bailout-rock (as we can imagine, “it’s a blessing / to blow a hundred thou in a recession / with no second guessing”) while Malice gets good marks for a well-rounded reference pool (javelins, dental plans, sunroofs); for good measure, Kanye tacks on his second stellar sex-in-school line this month. But it’s D.J. Khalil’s big bass beat — sounding straight off Ratatat’s remix series, a very good thing — that steals the show.